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Autistic people may act in a different way to other people.
Autistic people may:
Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works in a different way from other people.
It's something you're born with or first appears when you're very young.
If you're autistic, you're autistic your whole life.
Autism is not a medical condition with treatments or a "cure". But some people need support to help them with certain things.
Being autistic does not have to stop you having a good life.
Like everyone, autistic people have things they're good at as well as things they struggle with.
Being autistic does not mean you can never make friends, have relationships or get a job. But you might need extra help with these things.
Autism is a spectrum. This means everybody with autism is different.
Some autistic people need little or no support. Others may need help from a parent or carer every day.
There are other names for autism used by some people, such as:
Nobody knows what causes autism, or if it has a cause.
It can affect people in the same family. So it may sometimes be passed on to a child by their parents.
Autism is not caused by:
Some autistic people have average or above average intelligence.
Some autistic people have a learning disability. This means they may find it hard to look after themselves and need help with daily life.
Autistic people often have other conditions, like:
Read more about this on the NHS website: Autism